Reidar Bjornard

Dr. Reidar Bernhard Bjornard 1917 - 2020

Dr. Reidar Bjornard passed away on Sunday, December 16, 2020. He was born in Trondheim, Norway on November 29, 1917. As a young teenager, he moved with his mother to Oslo, where he met his one and only love, Karin Helene Ohrn at the Oslo Baptist Church. Reidar was a student at the University of Oslo when the Germans invaded in 1940. He then joined the Resistance as a Norwegian Military officer until the end of the war in 1945.

Upon the completion of his Divinity Degree Reidar married Karin in 1946. They then moved to Tromso in northern Norway, where Reidar felt called to become pastor at the Baptist Church. From there they moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he studied for his Doctorate of Theology on a Fulbright Scholarship. Reidar then had a long and distinguished teaching career in Old Testament studies and Hebrew at the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School, the Baptist Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and finally at the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago. He was much beloved by students and colleagues.

Reidar and Karin retired to Atlanta in 1988, where they found their church home at Northside Drive Baptist Church. They enjoyed time regularly traveling to Norway to see family and friends, as well as to new places including India, Turkey and Russia.

Reidar was predeceased by Karin in 2008, and by his eldest son, Trond, in 2011. He is survived by his daughter, Liv Bjornard Hyatt (John), and his son, Erik Jon (Shanon), six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Memorial service plans will be announced when Covid-19 public health guidelines permit. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Northside Drive Baptist Church and to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Interment will be at Arlington Memorial Gardens where he can rest alongside his beloved Karin. Arrangements are entrusted to A.S. Turner and Sons in Decatur.